The Clitoral Truth: The Secret World at Your Fingertips by Rebecca Chalker Page B

histochemical staining for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has rehabilitated the status of the paraurethral glands and spotlighted them as the homologue of the prostate.” Like Huffman, Gittes and Nakamura are only concerned with female prostate diseases, not the sexual function. In fact, Gittes says he believes that there is no ejaculatory potential in women. 56

    These are serious issues that must be addressed in a thoughtful and responsible manner. Research should focus on understanding and explaining female ejaculation. Doctors should make genuine efforts to acquaint themselves with the sexual function of the female prostate to avoid treating a perfectly normal sexual function. We can hope (I know that I am dreaming) that the media will avoid the temptation to sensationalize female ejaculation, and instead concentrate on educating the public about it in c0onjunction with a genuine exploration of women’s sexuality.

    THE LOST HISTORY OF FEMALE EJACULATION
    The earliest mention of female ejaculation appears in one of the first Chinese sex advice books, Secret Methods of the Plain Girl, a compendium of sexual practices from the time of the Yellow Emperor, the first emperor of China: “Her Jade Gate (vagina), becomes moist and slippery; then the man should plunge into her very deeply. Finally, copious emissions from her Inner Heart begin to exude outword.” 57 In this context, “plain” may actually mean “pure” rather then unattractive or boring, while “inner heart” is clearly not the heart that pumps blood, but a colorful metaphor for the female prostrate.
    The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, the famous ancient Indian sexuality advice book, observes that “the semen of women continues to fall from the beginning of the sexual union to its end, in the same
    way as that of the male,” indicating the copiousness of female ejaculate, and suggesting that women’s ejaculate squirts or “falls” as a man’s does. 58
    Although the Greeks didn’t understand precisely how conception occurred, they were intensely curious about it, and believed that fertilization was somehow due to sexual secretions. A reference to what is clearly female ejaculation appears in the works of a disciple of the Greek physician Hippocrates. During the time of conception, he writes, “if the ejaculate of the man runs together directly with that from the woman, she will conceive.” 59 Here, the word “ejaculate” seems to mean exactly that, and not the less concentrated effluent which we know as “vaginal sweating,” or the few drops of viscous mucous secretion from the vulvovaginal glands.
    Aristotle had a somewhat muddled view of reproduction. He believed that conception was caused by elements contained in the male ejaculate, and that female fluids only contributed to nurturing the fetus. Yet, when he discussed women’s genital anatomy, he produced a marvelously intuitive description of the anatomical mechanism by which women ejaculate:

    The path along which the semen passes in women is of the following nature: they possess a tube—like the penis of the male, but inside the body—and they breathe through this by a small duct which is placed above the place through which

    women urinate. This is why, when they are eager to make love, this place is not in the same state as it was before they were excited. 60

    It would seem that Aristotle is distinguishing between the female urethra, which is just inside the body, and the male urethra, much of which is located externally. The “small duct” could only be one of the paraurethral ducts, located beside or, as he notes, “above” the urethral opening. The claim that women also breathe through these ducts is ambiguous, but probably derives from Greek notions about how body fluids are produced. In the last sentence Aristotle notes the changes in “this place,” the area surrounding the urethra during sexual excitement. He may be implying that the urethral sponge becomes larger and erect